"Why Didn't I Think of That" Part 2...

In the last post I mentioned that I started playing guitar again. History lesson, I've owned an acoustic guitar for about 15 years but I never learned anything more than the intro to "Wanted Dead or Live". Also I was a drummer in a rock band in high school, but always regretted not pushing harder to be the guitar player. So about a month ago, I decided that it's not too late and bought a used Mexican Fender Strat off eBay and dedicated myself to open my heart and mind to "Purple Haze". Status Report is that I'm pleased with my progress.

So, I was looking at the music books in B&N when I stumbled across the book Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love that Guitar More Than You Love Me by Will Hodgkinson. This book chronicles the tale of Will's journey to play the sixties folk song "Anji" in front of a live audience. At 34, Will picks up the guitar for the first time and sets a goal to play in front of a live audience in 6 months. Will's journey takes him to interesting places from London to Florida to the Crossroads of Mississippi to New Orleans to New York as he searches out lessons from his favorite guitar players from Les Paul to Roger McGuinn of the Byrds to the 80 year old bluesman T-Model Ford.

As a wannabe writer, why didn't I think of this?

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1 Dead in Attic...

If you've read the "My Turn" article below, you will see that I've spent much time in Louisiana the last 16 months (8 months living there + 8 months telecommuting). On one fly-through the NOLA airport, I picked up a little book by Chris Rose called "1 Dead in Attic". Rose is a journalist for the NO Times-Picayune, and the book is his blog postings from pre, during, and post Katrina (my own katrina blog here). It really hits the nail on the head of the feelings and attitudes in Louisiana. I laughed, cried and got angry. No, not just a cliche, I really did, and I'm man enough to admit it.

Amazon Synopsis:
"1 Dead in Attic is a collection of stories by Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose, recounting the first four harrowing months of life in New Orleans after Katrina. It is a roller coaster ride of observations, commentary, emotions, tragedy and even humor - in a way that only Rose could find in a devastated wasteland. They are stories of the dead and the living, stories of survivors and believers, stories of hope and despair. And stories about refrigerators. With photographs by British photojournalist Charlie Varley, 1 Dead in Attic freeze frames New Orleans caught between an old era and a new, New Orleans in its most desperate time, as it struggled out of floodwaters and willed itself back to life in the autumn and early winter of 2005."

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